Univisión’s Mira Quién Baila

Girasol Amarillo

“Watching Univisión’s Mira Quién Baila, one would get the impression that there are no GLBTQ people in the world, because Univisión keeps them in the closet and only has/allows male-female paired dancers to give the impression all dancers are “straight.”

El 21 de octubre de 2013. Hola. ¿Qué tal? I’ve known for some time that the español language network Univisión (pronounced: Oooo [as in moon] knee vee sheon, for those who don’t know which seems to be most of the pathetic English-language US corporate media networks) has an ageism problem in that for the most part Univisión only want young, model-type faces before their expensive cameras and on their pretty and colourful LED sets.

The exceptions to Univisión’s ageism problem (I’m talking specifically about gray hair) seem to be male anchors on Noticero Univisión. I guess in that department of the network gray hair is considered: “experienced,” “seasoned” and “respectable” and one is seen as having more “credibility” as a news anchor if one has gray hair. If that’s the case, that should be most comforting to Jorge Ramos and Félix de Bedout. I think both of them look fine the way they are. Then there’s Raúl of El Gordo y La Flaca y Don Francisco of Sábado Gigante who both have some gray hair. I think dyed hair looks so phony and shows a lack of security within the person; that the person is not secure with him/herself, otherwise they’d leave their hair the way it is. The meteorólogo on Univisión dyes his hair. Is that so that Univisión won’t fire him? Other than with the people I’ve listed, I get the distinct impression that Univisión does not want any gray hair appearing on camera, but some gray hair does occasionally slip through in the productions by Televisa de México. I don’t know that Televisa is that concerned about it. Telemundo doesn’t seem to be. But back to Univisión. Why do you think one of the network darlings, Rodner Figueroa, started dying his hair? Every time I see him his hair is slicked down and looks dark brownish (with a little hue of orange). His scalp is even looking the same color from all the hair dye (which isn’t good for anyone, by the way, and it’s a lot of work to keep that hair dyed). I remember one of the Latin Grammy awards ceremonies a few years ago in Las Vegas where Rodner’s hair was salt-pepper in a close-up camera view that afternoon and I had seen it salt-pepper on previous occasions and thought to myself: Oh, Rodner’s getting some gray and good for him to leave it as it is. Yeah well, so much for that. By the time of the awards ceremony that night his hair had changed colours. I think it was brown. Fascinating how that happens, isn’t it? He’s just one example. Apparently, in Univisión’s world, there are only “young people” and the network chooses to live in Denial of the natural aging process and think that people are expendable. The thinking seems to be: “You look too old so out you go and we’ll find somebody else to replace you until they look too old (according to how we define that) and then they’re out too. That’s our revolving door here at Univisión.” Most people appearing before Univisión’s cameras have dark hair and blindingly white teeth and make sure those teeth are shown with a broad smile. Think: Rodner Figueroa. I call them, “Media Teeth.” Rodner was doing a toothpaste commercial for a major corporate company. I was wondering when he might be doing a hair dye commercial too? The last time I saw Raúl, he seemed to be dying his hair to some degree also.

La Dalia Rosa

Then they have the gay problem at Univisión. On the network, why do queer/gay boys always dance with muchachas instead of other muchachos/chicos especially on Mira Quién Baila? Perhaps I missed it, but I don’t recall ever seeing dos muchachos dancing together on Mira Quién Baila. And I’m not talking about “line dancing” either, but rather one-on-one dancing. Have you seen that ever? Why not Univisión? If the backward US Supreme Court can give our society a little bit in favour of same-gender marriage (as of octubre 2013 it’s fourteen states: New Jersey, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, the District of Columbia, several counties in New México, and six Native American tribal jurisdictions), one would think that the major español language network here in The Cesspool (los Estados Unidos/US/The Empire) might allow dos muchachos or dos muchachas to dance together, no? I can hear Univisión saying: “Well, you see, our audience might have a problem with that.” And why is that, Univisión? If someone in your audience has a problem with dos muchachos or dos muchachas dancing together that’s their problem and it’s technically called prejudice and bigotry, so why do you cater to prejudice and bigotry? It’s the viewers damn problem. People in your audience likely have other problems with some of your programming but I don’t see you catering to those prejudices and hang-ups. No, it’s just “The Gays” (as we’re called) that Univisión is still in the closet about at the network. Sad. And some people appearing before Univisión’s cameras are still in the closet too. Sad. I won’t name names, but you might just know who I’m thinking about.

I don’t know if anyone else has noticed this—how could you not?!—but unfortunately, Univisión has become a very corporate network and too corporate for my tastes in the last couple years. In part, because of their catering to and promotion of the texting and app addiction of the sheeple and gadgets and the so-called “social media networks.” There’s also more obnoxious noise (such as ads for example) on the network than there used to be. That seems to happen the more corporate a network becomes.

La Flor rosa

Also, I’ve lost some respect for many Latino/Hispano musicians/artists who have sold out by doing promotions/ads for some mega corporations. The mega corporations I have in mind have been involved in some very bad things. The ads have appeared on Univisión and other networks. Why would any artist do an ad for a company that has admitted to spying on people including through people’s toys (meaning their gadgets/phones/thumb boxes) that they’re addicted to?

And finally, Univisión, will you please stop allowing the inglés language corporate media network to put español words into inglés, beginning with the name of your network? Teach them how to pronounce Univisión correctly, por favor. Univisión is an español word; it’s not an inglés word. The inglés corporate media networks would damn well expect you to pronounce any word from inglés/English correctly in inglés. I find it most disrespectful to español the way the ignorant inglés language network talking heads mangle words from español and disrespect the language. Considering how they mangle the word Univisión, ask them how they pronounce “gracias.” Do they say: gray-sigh-ass? I wouldn’t be surprised if they did! What Ignoramuses!

Now, going back to Mira Quién Baila, what about this: can we see some same-gender “couples” dancing on Mira Quién Baila and specifically dos muchachos dancing together? I know that you would consider it “safer” for your delicate audience to have dos muchachas dancing together, just as it’s “safer” to show dos muchachas kissing (instead of dos muchachos kissing) in news articles about same-gender marriage. But I’m personally sick and tired of this what’s “safer” caca. What is “safer” has also become what’s predictable. I thought Univisión preferred to be more on the side of unpredictable and on the side of all people being treated the same way regardless of their sexual orientation and not bow to prejudice and bigotry, no? Watching Univisión’s Mira Quién Baila, one would get the impression that there are no GLBTQ people in the world, because Univisión keeps them in the closet and only has/allows male-female paired dancers to give the impression they’re “straight,” and frankly the programme has become a little monotonous and predictable. Chau.—rosa barrio